Yalla Yalla Beirut Street Food

Picture the scene: It’s Thursday night and I know there is not food in my fridge! Mr J is away in Dublin doing a speech, therefore no chance of sending him out to do the weekly food shop. The sensible thing here would be to go home via the nearest Supermarket and make something healthy, instead of going down the liquid meal route that can so easily happen with after work drinks. So with the prospect of sitting at home with Phil Mitchel on the screen for company there was only one thing to do … ring my best friend and see is she fancied joining me for a dining experience!

Our chosen venue was Yalla Yalla. I may be the last one on the boat here for a review on Yalla Yalla, but never the less, here’s my Yalla Yalla review!

Yalla Yalla is a cute little restaurant serving Lebanese and Middle Eastern food, with three locations in London.One just off Oxford Circus – Winsley Street, one in Soho – 1 Green’s court and a pop up on Shoreditch high street.We decided to visit the Winsley street branch and true to everything I have heard it did not disappoint.The atmosphere was of a Beirut back street, loud, full of laughter and great smelling Aromas of mouth-watering food.The decor inside consist of packed tables and chunky wooden counters that you share with other guests.Be warned go early if you want a table and don’t want to queue. The staff were also extremely helpful yet not annoying which is always a bonus point in my eye

With so many dishes to try we decided to go for the Meze option and share.If you don’t know how much to order your waiter will help and all meze’s come with complementary Pitta bread, Olives and pickles!Here’s a few of my recommendations of Meze’s to try:

Ommos Shawarma – A chick pea puree topped with slices of Lamb fillet.This was the first time that I had tasted this dish.It should be known as the VIP of houmous as it is essentially houmous with Lamb, a good choice as you get a bit of meat and lots of houmous!

Tabboule – Great for the Vegetarians in the house! A cracked wheat salad mixed in with chopped parsley, mint, spring onion, tomato, olive oil and lemon juice.A Salad that I will definitely be eating this summer.

Falafel – A chick pea and broad bean small pattie served with a salad, Tahini and garlic yoghurt sauce. Yum yum!

So with many Meze dishes to try at a Beirut street price, I will definitely being heading back to Yalla Yalla. Comment or tweet me at @aartipants and let me know how your Yalla Yalla experience goes.